Don Marti

Sat 05 Mar 2011 09:16:46 AM PST

Choose the behavior...

A wise man once said, "When you choose the behavior, you choose the consequences." Part of raising a child is reinforcing correct actions and not reinforcing the ones you want the child to stop doing. If a child is whining for something, and you give in, just to quiet the child, what you're doing is teaching the child to whine. This goes for all kinds of problem behavior.

Anyway, it seems like more and more IT managers would not qualify for any baby-sitting job.

"We need to run CentOS in order to be compatible with Example.com's proprietary software."

So, let me get this straight. Example.com releases software under a very restrictive license, and you can't tweak it to run anywhere but a certain version of Red Hat. And you reinforce this problem behavior by sending them money.

Meanwhile, Red Hat releases under a license that allows others to make rebuilds such as CentOS, and, even more constructively, works upstream first, so you have alternate sources for what they offer. And you fail to reinforce this constructive behavior.

Can I get a "d00d wtf?"

At least you're just messing up the IT market and not some kid's mind, but still. Cut it out.